1st Staff - Advice Very Welcome Please

Hello everyone

i just joined this forum today, nice to meet you all. I've had a nose around on the site, and i have found allot of very useful info here, and its been great fun.

I've been bought up with dogs all my life as i was growing up. We used to have a cross then we had a rotwieller up until i was about 16 (which was many moons ago now) although they were involved in my life, they was not my actual responsibility as i was only a child. I now have 4 children, aged 2, 3, 6 and 14, and as i was bought up with dogs, i thought it would be great if my children could enjoy a dog just as much as i did. Im no dog expert, but after a few months thought, i decided that although some family members didn't really think a staff was a good idea (due to them hearing only bad things in the past about staffs) i made my own choice. Some of my friends have owned staffs which i have met, and i really liked their loyalty, energy, intelligence and size. I saw lots of staff puppies for sale on the net, and went to look at many different ones before finally buying a 9 week old boy on Monday evening. Both parents were there and were very friendly and well behaved which i thought was good. I already bought some essentials which were at home e.g. crate, training pads, toys ect. The breeder was feeding pedigree pouches and pedigree puppy complete so i bought some on the way home. So far, the pup is settling in great i think lol. 1st night was a big rough as he didn't want to stay in the crate alone. I do understand its going to be a rough ride and he's missing his parents and siblings, but last night was much better than the 1st. I have been sleeping in the same room, pretty close to the crate, im not sure if this correct, but i thought it was the right thing to do. The kids are obviously very excited about the new puppy and love him being there. I do understand that the puppy is still settling in here, but i didn't think hiding him away from the kids was a good idea. I am not a total idiot, i have been supervising at all times and its going very well. I took him for his 1st injection today and his 2nd is booked for 2 weeks time which means walkies will be around the end of the month. The vet said all was good and gave me advocate for fleas and worms, he said use it in a few days time which i will.

I now realise that i should have gone to a known breeder to buy a pup, this was my 1st mistake and i don't want to make any more, although i did see the parents, i now realise there's a lot more to getting a dog than just looking at parents and thinking they are nice. I have now found out more about the parent dogs. The breeder has had the male from a pup and the bitch was a rescue dog.

I welcome and thank any advice, especially training around small children Please think of me as a total beginner/new owner of any dog which is exactly what i am.

To be honest, i am a lil worried that maybe i shouldn`t have bought any dog into my family with such small children, as i have no room for mistakes, and i`ve already made a serious one i will obviously do anything i can to prevent anymore mistakes.....this is why i ask for your help/opinions/advice/experience.

Thanks

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Hi and welcome from us and Suki.

Try not to fuss over the pup too much at first because he will think this is the way things are supposed to be.

Sit all the kids down and decide as a family what the rules and training methods will be used. Everyone will have to enforce the rules the same every time or the pup will get confused.

Start getting him used to a collar and lead in the house but don't leave it on unsupervised as it could get caught on something.

Take him out to the toilet every hour of so and give a ton of praise when he does the right thing. Also take him out after he wakes up, eats or gets done playing.

I could go on for quite awhile but if you have any questions theres always someone here to help

Hi and welcome!

Great advice above.

First of all, I'd recommend you get him off the pedigree as its pretty dire food although I'd wait a week then slowly start changing over. Have a look at http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/ to help find a better food.

If you're not limited by money then Orijen, Applaws and Fish4Dogs are very good dry foods, Natures Menu pouches and tins are very good wet foods.

There are loads of pretty good mid budget foods like Arden Grange, James Welbeloved, Natural Dog Food Company, Simpsons (all dry) or Wainwrights trays, Natures Harvest trays, James Welbeloved pouches (all wet).

If you're on a tight budget then Skinners Field and Trial is a good one.

It's a shame you bought from the people you did as a responsible breeder certainly would not breed from a rescue dog for starters but what's done is done and you know now for the future.

One general bit of advice is start as you mean to go on. A hyper, nipping, jumping (etc.) puppy might be cute now but if you reward any of these behaviours now you'll soon have an adult dog that does the same and it stops being so cute!

You might want to get hold of a copy of Gwen Bailey's The Perfect Puppy to get you started. Also there's a lot of good stuff in Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy although he is a bit dramatic. His book is available as a free PDF here - http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/BEFORE%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf and here - http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AFTER%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf

You might want to have a look at clicker training, or if you don't want to use a clicker, marker training where you use a word in place of the clicker. Karen Pryor's website is a good place to start - http://www.clickertraining.com/

There are also some great videos on YouTube, kikopup does some good ones. http://m.youtube.com/user/kikopup?client=mv-google

I'll leave it there for now but any questions just ask!

ETA: P.S. I want to see some pictures

Hi and welcome from me and my furry four legged kids.

Congrats on getting a staffy, great choice there (obviously )

As Jstaff said, don't fuss with the puppy to much, let it settle first. Ground rules for family members are very important, especially with you have young kids. Pups don't have teeth, they have needles, so it is very important to correct the nipping behaviour right from the start, by a stern no, or saying ouch in a slightly higher pitched tone of voice (this helped for us, and we have a 13 week old pup).

At 9 weeks old, pups also can't hold their bladders for very long, so although it is tiresome, try to take the pup out a couple of times during the night. Our vet advised us of the following. Up until the age of 4 -5 months, the pups bladders are still developing, so they should only hold it in for an hour / month in age. (ie. 2 months = 2 hours etc).

Set regular feeding times, so that everything has routine, this should also help with loo breaks, because you will get a sense of how long the pup waits to go after eating etc.

Start training as soon as possible, even only for 5 minutes a day for now. Although staffs are really clever, the can certainly be very headstrong and stubborn.

With regards to not looking into the parents, please just be aware of the L2 HGA deficiency. I don't want to scare you, but this, unfortunately is a reality, and a scary one at that. It would be a good idea to have your dog tested.

And most of all, enjoy your pup. They are bundles of love

If it was a rescue it would have been spayed before he was allowed to rehome it so he is either lying or has taken it off someone and is calling that a rescue.

It sounds healthy enough and i hope they have told the truth abuot its age etc.

What the others have said is spot on though. Have fun with it

I've been around dogs all my life and I got a Staff puppy on Saturday, so I'm new to that too, but I'd say it's good to have a puppy around young children; an older dog might already have problems that are harder to correct, and you'll be able to teach the puppy right from the start what's acceptable and what isn't. I've tried saying no with mine but he...doesn't listen most of the time, so I'm going to be teaching him "leave it" and then give him a chew bone or a toy he can chew, so he gets into the habit of knowing what he can and can't chew/bite. So yeah, let him settle of course, but it's never too early to start the training. Oh, and get him used to wearing his collar and lead too, even if it's just for a short time each day around the house, it'll help him get used to it.

Hi & welcome.

The only thing I'll add to what's already been said is...
1. Don't sleep in the same room as your pup to keep him quiet! He'll get used to it & you'll be there for the rest of its life! Either leave him to cry (sounds awful, but he'll settle after a couple of nights) or move his crate into your room.
2. By all means sit your family down & discuss the dos & don'ts but obviously a two year old won't fully grasp the importance of it all. Just make sure that the kids & pup are always supervised when they're together - puppies & young dogs get over excited very quickly & a child can get knocked over/nipped as a result. If you see play becoming too rough or inapproriate just step in & calm it all down.
3. Make sure your kids understand that a pup must be allowed to drop wherever it is & go to sleep - and must never be woken up to play, always wait for the pup to wake up & have a pee outside before starting a game.

Other than that..........Good luck!

Can't really add much as its all been said above but grats on ur furbaby.

I too have 4 kids, ages 5,8,10,12 my youngest was 4 when we got our first staffy, the kids will love it x

Also, just to add, take some time to handle him, like picking his paws up, looking in his mouth, ears etc. Run your hands all over his body. Get him used to it. Preferably when he's in a relaxed mood but not asleep. Just makes the vets and your job easier when they are older. Plus kids tend to put their hands all over dogs - mine do.

I give my Saffy a puppy massage everytime she lays near me. She loves it. And I play with her paws. Shes enjoys the attention and I think it builds trust aswell.

Galadriel wrote:Hi and welcome!

Great advice above.

First of all, I'd recommend you get him off the pedigree as its pretty dire food although I'd wait a week then slowly start changing over. Have a look at http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/ to help find a better food.

If you're not limited by money then Orijen, Applaws and Fish4Dogs are very good dry foods, Natures Menu pouches and tins are very good wet foods.

There are loads of pretty good mid budget foods like Arden Grange, James Welbeloved, Natural Dog Food Company, Simpsons (all dry) or Wainwrights trays, Natures Harvest trays, James Welbeloved pouches (all wet).

If you're on a tight budget then Skinners Field and Trial is a good one.

It's a shame you bought from the people you did as a responsible breeder certainly would not breed from a rescue dog for starters but what's done is done and you know now for the future.

One general bit of advice is start as you mean to go on. A hyper, nipping, jumping (etc.) puppy might be cute now but if you reward any of these behaviours now you'll soon have an adult dog that does the same and it stops being so cute!

You might want to get hold of a copy of Gwen Bailey's The Perfect Puppy to get you started. Also there's a lot of good stuff in Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy although he is a bit dramatic. His book is available as a free PDF here - http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/BEFORE%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf and here - http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AFTER%20You%20Get%20Your%20Puppy.pdf

You might want to have a look at clicker training, or if you don't want to use a clicker, marker training where you use a word in place of the clicker. Karen Pryor's website is a good place to start - http://www.clickertraining.com/

There are also some great videos on YouTube, kikopup does some good ones. http://m.youtube.com/user/kikopup?client=mv-google

I'll leave it there for now but any questions just ask!

ETA: P.S. I want to see some pictures

yes, what Galadriel said!

you sound just like me, we did EXACTLY the same thing with our Jellybean. I'm not too worried about it anymore, as she is a really good puppy. And as said above, what's done is done so do your best and relax because the puppy will feel the stress and worry, you might overcorrect, etc... you sound like a good person with good intentions so you'll surely have a good pup that becomes a lovely adult dog.

she is really good with the kids too - mine are a bit older (8 and 10) but she just ADORES them, would never conceive of hurting them, and is extremely loyal and tolerant. she is all of 5 months old and has been wrapped up in blankets, taunted with treats/toys (which the kids get a very stern telling off for), pulled on, squeezed, kissed, run ragged and even walked on and she has yet to even lunge or show any sign of aggression. that said, don't be surprised if you're the one training your puppy and spending all the time with him that he gets gutsy with you and is a little angel with everyone else. just reinforce the positive behavior, don't be afraid to give a stern NO or throw her out of the room into another puppy-proof place/room for a time out and he'll get the message. must be instant, must be consistent, and it takes time, but it works. anyway, back to the kids - no regrets there yet, and i'm certain Jellybean will be a loyal, protective friend for the kids as long as she is around. just do what you're doing, supervise, teach them all how to get along and it should all be just fine.

it's super hard to do the discipline because they are so darn cute, but it MUST be done and very consistently. That's about all I know for sure, as I'm in the same situation as you and relying on any other advice I can get from the good people here.

Hi and welcome to the forum from Rocky and me.

Nothing further to add, only we love pictures. Please be patient and consistent with all training. All members of the family must stick to the same training methods. Always praise all good behaviour and try to ignore any bad by turning your back.

Have fun and try to keep calm. Good luck with it all

Ooo, forgot to mention the puppy plan, that will help

http://www.thepuppyplan.com/?page_id=29 / http://www.thepuppyplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/PP_Brochure_Owners_07_LO.pdf

Girly wrote:yes, what Galadriel said!

Great advice already given. These guys are a joy but puppyhood can be trying. Just enjoy each stage of development with a lot of consistent boundaries, lots of patience and oodles of love. And above all remember that they do eventually grow up.

Wow, thanks to everyone for great support. i have taken everything on board, and will let u know how things are going

Best of luck

I have posted in the health section about L2 HGA which is the only thing im now worried about.

Please don't get bogged down by the test. Have it done by all means, but the likelihood is that it'll either come back clear or carrier. In the meantime he's still your lovely pet!

Good luck with the pup , nothing to add really apart from maybe a nice thick pair of gloves to protect you from those little fangs , have fun